


With or Without You

by lar_laughs



Category: Actor RPF, Marvel Avengers Movies RPF
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Real Events, this is what I would like reality to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremy and Scarlett are always in different timezones but he can hear the strain in her voice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With or Without You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunny_serenity](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sunny_serenity).



> This was written as a dare. In that, I mentioned that I was writing RPF (it wasn't done... it wasn't good... it wasn't posted) and sunny_serenity gave me grief.
> 
> None of the events are written in the order they occur because I'm too lazy to figure out what picture was taken when. I put them in my own order.

He calls her Red. Has since the first day they were formally introduced, even though her hair was still blonde then. In his mind, it was a character thing and he thought he might try it out on the real person but it didn’t stick as something that Clint would say. Instead, it turned into what Jeremy calls Scarlett. 

Everyone thinks it has something to do with her real name. He never thought about it like that until Chris brought it up one day when the group of them went out for drinks after shooting. They’d only been together as a group like this for a few weeks but it had already been a thing to go out, mostly at Evans’ prompting.

“How long have you known Scarlett?” he’d asked as the two of them watched the woman walk across the room to get the next round. Jeremy hadn’t even realized he was staring until he looked over to see Chris smiling at him like he was in on some secret.

“First day of stunt training.”

“Oh.” This seemed to have shut him up but then he got the smile back, the one that said that he, in fact, _did_ have a secret. “And she lets you call her Red?”

“Didn’t know I need permission.”

“Aren’t you making fun of her name?”

“Yeah. I guess I am.”

But she never looked like she was annoyed and so he kept doing it, mostly because it was something that he had all to himself. No one else dared call her Red. They’d seen her dislike of being followed around by paparazzi and knew better than to get on her bad side.

She’s blonde again, months after shooting wrapped, but it’s a thing now. “Hey, Red,” he says into his phone and he can feel her smile even from across the continent. Right now, they’re across the world from each other, separated by land and sea but connected by a speaker in a phone.

“Hey, yourself.”

He waits, letting her shed the stress and worry of her day before he starts requiring conversation of her. Since he’s only just starting his day while she’s finishing hers, he gets to ask the questions. “How was Friday?”

“About the same as every other Friday. The world’s still turning. People did stuff.”

“What sort of stuff did you get to do?”

There’s a quiet sort of pause. Not for the first time, he wishes he was closer so he could be here for the conversation in person. Lately, she’s been sounding more out of sorts and it’s harder to get her to smile. Not that he’ll ever quit trying. One of his favorite jobs is to give her a reason to laugh and get rid of some of her stress. She does the same for him.

There’s a sigh to end the silence. “I think I pissed off the director.”

“What? You? No.” When his deadpan sarcasm is met with more silence, he switches tactics. “What happened?”

There’s mumbled conversation on the other end, none of which he can hear well enough to pick up what is being said. Scarlett mumbles something before sighing again. “Look, I have to go.”

“What? Aren’t you done for the day?”

“I thought so but-”

“What’s going on, Red?”

“I can’t... not right now, okay?”

She clicks off before he can ask why she’s still working well after her normal wrap time. As Jeremy stares at the phone, he tries to tell himself that everything is fine. She’s just tired and out of sorts. It’s fine.

Twelve hours later, he’s tired of telling himself that she’s fine. His imagination has taken him all over the map of possibility. He’ll be seeing her in two weeks when the press junkets start for their movie but it seems too far away. Whatever has her irritated is happening right now.

“Is everything alright?” his co-star asks as they take a break from the hot afternoon sun. She’s still every bit as beautiful as she was on the first day they met but Jeremy’s has to admit that there are moments when he’s tired of all the perfection. He’s never seen past the polite facade to the person underneath.

And why should he? Outside of this movie set, she has a life. A husband. Children. This movie will wrap and they’ll part as friends but it will just mean they’ll meet at the press junkets with a smile and greeting. But they won’t remember each other because there’s nothing to remember. There’s no connection past what they have on-screen.

She’s no Scarlett.

“Yeah. Just... wishing I wasn’t here right now.”

His phone is in his hand but he’s been trying hard not to turn it on to check for a message that won’t be there. He knows she won’t call even though he wishes she would. While he’s been toying with the idea of calling Scarlett’s assistant, it seems wrong to carry this friendship out with messages left with other people.

“Trouble at home?” He gives her a look that makes her blush slightly, as if she’s been caught poking her nose into where it’s not allowed. “It’s just... you have the look of a man who needs to slay a few dragons.”

“As far as I know, there aren’t any dragons to slay. I just don’t know that for sure.”

“Ah, yes. The old “Any news is better than no news at all” fear. I’ve had it myself. I think I may be able to help you out.” This time the look he gives her is slightly more hopeful. At this point, he’ll take anything. “I’ve had a call that I’m needed at home for a couple of days. I talked to the people who matter and we’re breaking for a few days. It might be a nice-”

But she doesn’t answer because he’s pulling her in for a kiss and a tight hug. Maybe they are friends, after all. “Thank you,” he remembers to add as he pulls out his phone to call around for flights.

***

The only problem with traveling by airplane is the lines. When he’s standing still, people notice him. He realizes it’s not as bad for him as other people. These days, he’s noticed by the young military types who watched The Hurt Locked one too many times and want to buy him a beer. Ghost Protocol has changed his demographic and, slowly but surely, he’s started to get the giggling girls. He hates to think about what will happen when Avengers hits the theaters. 

It’s something he and Scarlett talked about extensively on those last days together. About how it was either going to make or break his career and both those instances had an up-side and a down-side. As young as she is, Scarlett is lightyears ahead of him in the Hollywood game. He may be able to beat her at any trivia game they can think up, but she’s been acting since before puberty.

Funny how he’s still drooling at her like he did as a kid in the theater, laughing with his friends about the cute girl with the throaty voice who seemed a little too deep for a casual boinking. He wishes he could go back and hit his teenage self upside the head because she’s so much more than anything he dreamed about as he watched her up on the big screen. She’s funny and, yes, very deep. Her voice is perfect for belting out jazz tunes and big band standards but she likes 80s music that she couldn’t have appreciated the first time around, seeing as she would have been nothing more than an infant at the time.

It doesn’t hurt that she understands him in a way that few other people do. Kris, maybe, but that’s different. That’s friendship with a common goal. With Scarlett, Jeremy feels like he can say whatever comes to his mind without having to figure out if it’s too dry or off-color or just plain stupid. If she doesn’t like one of his jokes, she doesn’t try to apologize or over-analyze the moment. 

In those first days after shooting The Avengers, he actually thought it was over with her. That she would go about her business and he would go about his and that would be that. The first time his phone rang and she was the face smiling back at him from the screen (that photo on his phone is one of those memories that will never not make him smile), he literally felt sick with nervous energy.

He would do anything for her. This is his chance to prove that. His agent did some scouting around and found the reason for Scarlett’s inattention lately. She’s getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the idiot who lined it up had asked her ex to speak. He’d agreed because he is, Jeremy truly believes, an ass.

His agent, who is now going to start getting a much higher percentage of his earnings thanks to her ability to move mountains, made some calls and got Jeremy into the role instead. Scarlett’s only been told that someone else will be doing it because, while he knows she hates surprises like this, he wants to see the smile on her face when she realizes that she can truly enjoy her day.

It’s hard to slay dragons for Scarlett. She does a damn fine job of it herself. This is really just about getting to see her again. Getting to see her smile. Having something to laugh about later. Being a part of her life for one more moment.

***

“Are you my surprise?”

“In the flesh. Kind of offended you didn’t ask me in the first place, Red.”

She laughs, pulling him back into another hug while the cameras continue to bath them in light. “This was put together over a year ago. I didn’t even know you then, Renner.”

“No excuse.” He kisses her cheek because he needs to be touching her. Lucky for him, she seems to feel the same way because she wraps her arm around him, as if for moral support, and faces the crowd again.

It’s perfect. Exactly what he wanted it to be when he first had the idea. All too soon, he’s said what he’s come to say and she’s glowing like a beacon light so that every eye is on her. She’s rushed off to wherever it is that she needs to be and he’s taken back to the airport to get on another plane to wherever it is that isn’t with her.

***

It’s the first interview of what will probably number in the triple digits. He’s low man on the totem pole of these events but he’s just happy people know his name and are saying it right. People still remember the hype around The Hurt Locker and The Town so it’s not like he’s completely ignored. That’s okay with him because he figures it’ll save him from having to come up with something funny to say.

The only problem is that it’s been leaked that he and Scarlett spent a lot of time on set. Their characters have history so it’s assumed they were getting in character. But the reporters are eating it up. If she tries to deflect the attention away, he’s willing to go along with her and try to ignore it.

Instead, she turns to him and grins. It’s a dare, pure and simple. When she feeds him a line, he banters right back at her until it’s like they’re back on set and there’s no one else in the room.

“That was okay, right?” she asks as they get back to the green room. Clark’s got the rest of the group in stitches as he tells a story about his kid so it’s just the two of them in this corner, almost as good as being alone and the only opportunity they’re going to get before splitting off into the single interviews.

“What?”

“Telling them that stuff.”

“From on set. I don’t care. Unless you do?”

“I don’t care.” She stared at him for a few seconds before a smile lifted one corner of her mouth. “I’ve missed being in the same timezone as you.”

There aren’t any cameras around and the others don’t care so he goes with his first instinct and leans over to kiss her squarely on the mouth. Just when he’s about ready to pull back, she grabs onto the lapels of his sports coat and holds him close.

Best clothing choice ever. He’ll have to thank his mom later for convincing him he needed to dress up a little more than the button down shirt.

“Why should we lie?” he asks as they mutually agree to come up for air. “We had fun together on set of the movie. That’s not a lie.”

“And if we try to cover it up, they’ll just uncover it and use it against us.”

He pulls her in close again when the frown lines creep back. With a sigh, she lays her head against his chest and lets out a contented sound when he begins making comforting circles on her back with his free hand. The other is tangled with hers. They stay that way, not talking, just being with each other in a way they haven’t had in months.

“Hey! Get a room!”

Jeremy flips up his middle finger at Evans before starting the process of stepping away from the woman in his arms. When she’s about ready to step away from him, he wraps his arm around her shoulders. “We should tell them we’re a matched set. If they get one of us, they get both of us.”

The lopsided smile is back. “Really? You’d do that?”

“We don’t give them anything to uncover. If we lay it all out for them, they won’t have anything to ferret out. After the first part, you know the questions are going to come up. We’ll head them off at the pass.

He sees relief in her eyes right before they drop to his lips. If she starts kissing him again, they won’t make it any further than the couch on the other side of the room because it’s been too long. Lucky for him (unluckily for him?), she lifts her eyes to his once again. “Let’s do it.”

***  
It’s good to have friends. Even better to have friends with an empty house near enough to town that they can come and go but far enough that it’s like being on a vacation from the Hollywood rat race.

She’s already been there for hours before he was finally able to get away. Low man on the totem pole means he’s the last interview. Thankfully, they go quick because there’s very little any of the magazines want from him that they don’t already have. He’s starting to get weary of the glazed look all of them seem to have when he finally slides into the chair. Bet they don’t look that bored the Evans or Hemsworth get in the chair.

No one answers when he opens the door and shouts a greeting. It’s not a massive place so he knows it won’t take him long to investigate the whole thing. As he sits his bag down on the couch and toes off his shoes, he tries to think like a tired actress who hasn’t had any decent time off in nearly a year. Where would he go first?

The answer might be the bed upstairs. If so, he wants to give her plenty of space because she might just need a nap. He heads to the kitchen and pulls down a glass for some water. Even filtered, it still tastes like crap but it’s wet.

As he sets the glass in the sink, he hears a splash. Now that he thinks about it, they did mention a pool. Sure enough, out the sliding glass door there’s a pool that dominates most of the deck overlooking the wooded valley. He turns from the view when he hears the splash again. Now the only view he cares about is the very naked woman floating on the surface of the water with a soft smile tugging up both sides of her mouth. He can’t tell if she knows he’s there, nor does he really care if he’s announced.

There is a moment, as he hits that water, that he remembers he’s still got clothes on but then he’s thinking about how long it will take to get to her and he doesn’t care what he’s got on because it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but being able to touch her again. All of her, not just the parts that are available to anyone that comes into her general area.

She’s waiting for him, arms and legs treading water in smooth motions that demonstrate her strength, but then she’s clinging to him with arms and legs that wrap just perfectly around his body in practiced motion.

“I’ve got to get one of these for my house.” It’s all he has time to say before her lips find his and it’s all he can do to concentrate on keeping both of them above water as she welcomes him home.

***

They take separate cars into the next event. He gets locked up in traffic and nearly misses his entrance. He runs up just as everyone is finishing hugging and kissing, out of breath and out of line. Normally, it wouldn’t matter but there are nameplates in front of each microphone, as if no one is going to be able to tell Robert Downey, Jr. from Chris Hemsworth without the visual aids.

“You’re late,” she hisses as he gets to her.

“And you’re stunning. Love that color on you.”

She inches forward to allow him to pass by but he doesn’t take the room. Instead, he acts as if there’s a wall only inches from her. For a brief moment, they’re pressed together. He can feel her breathing catch as he touches her wrists.

His brain shorts out for a brief second as he remembers her wrists captured by his hands, above her head. She leans forward, breaking the memory right at the moment as she began bucking against him, but the damage is already done.

“You ready for this?” Mark asks under his breath as the crowd begins to settle.

“There’s no place I’d rather be.” That’s a lie but still very much truth. Scarlett’s foot finds his and he moves a bit closer towards her than is probably necessary. Any place with Scarlett is better than any place without her. Not only are they in the same time zone but he woke up with her snuggled against his side. It’s perfect in the fact that it can’t last.

He glances over at her. “Beat you to the first laugh.”

It’s a dare that she accepts with a lopsided smile but her eyes drop to his lips and he knows she’s thinking she’d rather be somewhere else right now, too.


End file.
